Annabeth Chase and the Necklace of Harmonia
by ash-the-fanboy
Summary: This fanfiction is set between the events of The Lost Hero and The Mark of Athena. It follows Annabeth on a quest from Aphrodite to get the Necklace of Harmonia, for which she'll be rewarded with information on Percy's whereabouts.
1. Introduction

This fanfiction is set between the events of The Lost Hero and The Mark of Athena. It follows Annabeth on a quest from Aphrodite to get the Necklace of Harmonia, for which she'll be rewarded with information on Percy's whereabouts.

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This story has been written as a piece of university coursework, for a module called Independent Second Year Project, so comments may be used anonymously as part of the reflective process at the end of the project. The project is not marked on writing quality, but rather how it conveys information about the ancient world. So while comments on my writing style and such are helpful, I would prefer comments on stuff you learnt from reading this and stuff like that as that would be much more helpful for my project. Thank you.

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Cover from Tumblr, credit to ace-artemis-fanartist

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	2. I Get Attacked by Mutant Doves

Why did my boyfriend have to be such a Seaweed Brain? One day, he's pushing me out of our canoe and into the lake; the next he's missing from his bed when I go to wake him in the morning. Now I spend every second I can trying to find him, or at least to find out whether he's okay. The only clue we have is that he is at a camp for Roman demigods, but Jason doesn't remember exactly where that is yet. Chiron has forced me to get some rest after I've spent all day talking to aurai. I can't though, not without knowing. So here I am, laying on the sand, breathing in the smell of the water, my mind racing, as if that would bring him back to me. The crashing and rolling of the waves simultaneously calmed me and made my longing worse; reminding me of him and making my heart ache for him.

As I lay there, I heard something unfamiliar. It wasn't the usual cawing of the gulls that live on the Sound. I sat up and drew my knife, a feeling of unease running down my spine. I looked around, trying to find the source of the unnatural noise. I soon spotted them in the trees nearby; a group of unusually large pesky white birds looking unnaturally straight at me. When they saw that I had spotted them, they opened their wings in unison and dove straight for me. I raised my knife to try to protect myself, but it was too late. As they swarmed around me, I swiped at them and they pecked back in retaliation, drawing blood on my arms. As if being randomly targeted by birds from Hades wasn't bad enough, the air was suspiciously filling with the scent of roses. My brain tried to work out what was happening. Why were these birds here? What had I done wrong to make them attack me? Even the Stymphalian birds weren't this bad.

Suddenly, the birds flew away and in front of me stood a lady who somehow looked exactly like Percy, if he had magically become a woman. She had his green eyes that always seemed to pierce right through me to my soul, and her messy long black hair was just as wavy as the ocean which he loved as much as me. Despite her likeness to him, I knew this wasn't Percy. The details were too perfect, the hair was missing the grey streak that we both shared, and the makeup was too flawless. This was Aphrodite, and the damned birds must have been her doves. Whilst I should be respectful to a goddess, I am not in the mood for playing games when I need to be looking for Percy.

"What do you want?" I asked petulantly as I crossed my arms across my chest. She gave me a sickly-sweet smile before replying.

"Why Annabeth darling, I only want to help you get your boy back! Percabeth is like my biggest ship since Palen! Of course, I do need you to do me one tiny little favour before I can, you know what Zeus is like."

"What?" I didn't hide my anger at all "What can I possibly do for you?! And why would I anyway? My time would be much better spent looking for Percy." I glared at her, but she showed no sign of wilting.

"I need you to get me a necklace that you could say is a family heirloom so I can wear it on my next date with Ares. I presume you know who my lovely daughter Harmonia is?" she beamed, her exaggerated happiness grating on me. I sighed before replying.

"Yes, I know about her. She's your daughter by Ares, you married her off to Cadmus." My irritation levels were rising by the second. "And I know your wedding gift to her was a necklace, one that happened to cause generations of bad luck for her descendants."

Aphrodite sighed and checked her makeup in a mirror she magicked up. "It isn't my fault they were constantly at each other, jeez. Look at the House of Atreus, that wasn't my fault either. Well, most of it anyway." she giggled, and I gritted my teeth in frustration.

"Why should I go get this stupid necklace for you? What will I get out of it?" I stared straight into her eyes.

"Why, I'll help you hear his voice again. And I'll give you a clue to where he is." She giggled again "We both know that's all you want right now. I can see it in your heart, I can see how empty you are without him, I can see how scared you are to lose him like you lost Luke." The mention of Luke lit the flames inside me.

"You know nothing! I know Percy is nothing like Luke!" I lunged at her with my knife. But she casually sidestepped as if it was nothing, tutting and adjusting her mascara.

"Now, now Annabeth," she chastised, "I'm giving you an opportunity here. I could have easily given this quest to one of my children, but here I am giving you a chance to find your boyfriend and you attack me! How impolite!" My only reply was another glare, and so she continued despite my obvious distaste. "I need that necklace in four days' time. Now, you'll find the only person who knows of its whereabouts in some boring old stuffy country club in Arkansas." She gave me a slip of pink paper that was reeked of some horrific perfume and had an address written on it, with perfect penmanship and in Ancient Greek so I stood a chance of reading it. "You'll be looking for Oedipus. Good luck."

She disappeared in a puff of Mist and I was left standing on the sand with only the scent of roses and a piece of paper for company.


	3. My Taxi Takes Forever

I sighed and stomped to my cabin to look up where this country club was, and to pack for this stupid quest. The gods must really hate me. The only thing that could make this quest worse is if it involved spiders or something. I grabbed the laptop that Daedalus gave me a couple of years ago to look up if there were any buses to anywhere near this country club I had to go to, but there weren't. That left me with only one option; the Chariot of Damnation.

I packed what was necessary; a change of clothes, toiletries, some drachmai and mortal money, my dagger, a book to read on the way there, nectar and ambrosia. I asked Chiron to keep the search up for me, told Malcolm he was in charge while I was away, grabbed my stuff and walked up Half Blood Hill. Pulling out a drachma, I dropped it onto the ground.

"_Stêthi 'Ô hárma diabolês_" I recited and waited for the Grey Sisters' Taxi to arrive. The last time I had used their service, the Sisters lost their eye and nearly drove us all into the Sound. The golden drachma sank into the ground and smoke began to form in front of me into the rough shape of a cab. I got in and ignored the bickering of the three sisters who shared one eye and one tooth between them.

"Hardscrabble Country Club, Arkansas." I told them where to go, not caring about how much it was. I just wanted to get going and get things over and done with as soon as possible. Not only was Aphrodite one of my least favourite goddesses, but the sooner I could get out of the chariot, the better. They began to drive and I opened my book, willing the time and miles away.

Of course, the Grey Sisters loved to argue over who had the one eye and one tooth they shared, which meant I wouldn't have much peace to read. Whilst Anger was driving, Wasp had the eye; and while Wasp had the drachma I used to summon them, Tempest had the tooth. So as I tried my best to read about the Temples of Bel and Baalshamin in Palmyra, I had to try and drown out their quarreling.

"Give me the eye!" Anger snarled at her sister "I need it to drive."

"Not until Tempest gives me the tooth!" Wasp replied in a manner worthy of her name as she tried to yank the yellow incisor out of Tempest's mouth

"You had it last time!" Tempest tried to protest, but the attempt was feeble as Wasp's hand muffled her words.

The shouting went on, and on, and on. Only when Anger nearly drove us straight into the back of a petrol tanker did they shut up. Even then it was only for a couple of miles, and then they were back to their incessant bickering. I bit my lip to stop myself from shouting at them.

After sixteen hours and 1422 miles of bumps and near misses with trucks and cars, they pulled up outside a fancy golf course. The door popped open and I got out, my legs a bit wobbly from sitting still for so long, and from my nervousness. This wasn't the kind of place someone like me could pass as normal at. I gave the course a cursory glance, and headed inside to the dining area, hoping to find Oedipus quickly and easily.

As I walked into the room, I scanned it, looking for likely candidates. There were two old women having afternoon tea, an old man in a suit reading the newspaper, a young woman a bit older than me going to and fro from the kitchen who seemed to be a waitress, and in the back corner there was a man with dark glasses on struggling to sip his coffee. 'That must be Oedipus.' I think to myself, assuming that the old man was struggling because he was blind. I aimed towards where he was sat. But as I passed between the waitress (who must be called Michelle if the name on her shirt was to be believed) and the old man reading the newspaper, the latter looked up, straight at me.

"Where do you think you are going, Annabeth?" He asked me simply, as if he was confused as to why I was walking past him.


	4. An Old Man Spills the Beans

I look at the old man in confusion. "How do you know about me? How do you know my name?" He was nothing like the image I had in my head. For one, his eyes weren't gaping holes like you would expect from someone who stabbed their eyes out with a brooch. And he wasn't dressed like you would expect an ancient king to dress. He wore a tailored suit that wouldn't look out of place on Wall Street. Frankly, he looked like Colin Firth in What a Girl Wants.

He had folded up his newspaper and placed it on the arm of his chair. "Why, my dear," he gave me a smile that seemed genuinely warm, "It is because I am the one you seek." I look him up and down, even more confused than before. "I am King Oedipus of Thebes, son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta, parricide, matriphile, blessed and cursed by the gods." He indicated to the chair opposite his with his hand.

"But...but how do you know who I am and that I'm here?" I ask in confusion as I sit down "I thought you were blind, that you stabbed out your eyes with a brooch from Jocasta's dress?" The waitress brought over a tea set and Oedipus poured for us both. He took a sip before sighing in what seemed to be frustrated disappointment.

"Ah… I see you read your Sophocles literally. I would expect better from a child of Athena, especially her favourite." I felt my cheek blush slightly in embarrassment at the mere suggestion I was mother's favourite. "Don't believe everything you read, my dear, especially that which comes from the styluses of playwrights. It was Laius' servants that blinded me, and Jocasta didn't hang herself until our sons killed each other in their fight for the throne. I say that was Laius' fault; he always wanted the throne to himself and he knew my boys were prone to arguing since they were yea high." He made a motion with his hand at about table height. "He played them against each other and took the throne as if he was doing Thebes a favour."

I nodded along. "Do you know why I'm here?" I tried to interject, but he just continued on rambling on as if he didn't hear me.

"And as for Sophocles and Euripides, pah to them. As much as Euripides got parts of my life right, he caused the lovely Phaedra so much pain with how he portrayed her on stage. The first play was bad enough, making her out to be as lustful and promiscuous as a courtesan. But the second wasn't much better, even if he won first prize with it. Phaedra did not such thing as accusing Hippolytus of sleeping without her consent, ever. That damned nurse told Theseus that Hippolytus slept with Phaedra, all the mess happened and the poor dear took her own life out of shame for what happened. She is eternally guilty for what happened to that boy, for his death to be so… well, you probably know how he died." He looked down solemnly for a second. "And don't even get me started on Freud; do I look like someone who wanted to sleep with their own mother?!" he said irately. "You must be wondering why am I mentioning this when you're on a time sensitive quest for Aphrodite? Because I will only tell you where the necklace is if you grant me a favour in return; quid pro quo if you will."

I sighed in frustration "And what will this favour be? I really need to get this quest over and done with so I can find Percy."

He just smiled "Why, ask Aphrodite why she made the nurse tell Theseus that lie. What was her motivation for doing so? I care very much for the poor girl and knowing why could ease her pain a little. And as we know, as a child of Athena, you won't be able to resist asking. Just like I was fixated on finding out the truth all those years ago, the question will itch in your head until it is answered. And as for your Percy, don't believe that Aphrodite will be as helpful as she promised; remember Hera and that time you ventured into the Labyrinth?"

I nod "As you wish" I said simply "Now, where is the necklace?"

He nods gravely "It is in the possession of a foe both of us have faced, in her lair under the Classics department of Columbia University." I sigh in relief, as that was close to where camp was situated. But I struggled to think of a foe that I had fought that he had too faced. Oedipus was famous for his interfamilial relations, he wasn't a monster defeating type like Hercules or Theseus. "Be careful dear Annabeth. For she is just as tricky as she is monstrous. She killed many a man before I defeated her, and she will be extremely cruel to you if she gets her paws on you, so please be on your guard." I nod meekly, the fear inside creeping out slowly as my mind tried to work out who this 'she' was exactly. Why did everyone have to play the pronoun game?

He smiled wistfully. "One is reminded by our conversation of a quote by James A. Owen; 'All stories are true. But some of them never happened.'. That is how the Greek myths are; they are in essence true as the mortals know them, but the details recorded by playwrights and poets aren't always strictly accurate, they twist the facts to suit their purposes. So as Sophocles wanted to warn the Athenian demos against the dangers of prideful hubris, he produced my story on stage as a metaphor for his theme. You should know that, considering what has happened in your life since you were little, how no one believed you about the spiders at night, how they blamed you for the monsters when you did nothing wrong, how you ran away at the tender age of seven; mortals do not possess the ability to comprehend our world so they have to change things to make it fit into their sphere of comprehension, that's why the Mist exists, and that's why they pushed you away." I inhaled sharply. How did he know things in that much detail? The only ones who knew that much were either dead or knew that I would not forgive them for divulging such things.

"Yes, I know much about your life Annabeth. I know things that you don't realise yet. That is my curse now, that of the prophet Tiresias who I so foolishly cursed; for my mind to open to all sorts of knowledge but my eyes to be closed forever. So, I warn you, as you continue down the path the Fates have set out for you, you will have to face your greatest fear alone to be able to succeed. Farewell dear Annabeth and remember your favour to me." He picked his broadsheet newspaper back up and appeared to begin to read it again, and I knew the conversation was over. I stood up and left, anxious just to get things over and done with.


	5. I Fight a Cat Thing from Outer Space

I summoned the Chariot of Damnation again, and belted myself in for the ride. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep on the long journey from Arkansas to New York, but I barely got a second with the uncomfortableness of the ride. Soon the smoke taxi came to a screeching halt, and I knew my ride was over. I gave them my fare of ten drachmai and got out, shouldering my backpack. My surroundings comforted me. As a child of Athena, well one that was slightly more academic compared to some of my siblings who are more gifted in the arts, being in a university put me at ease. But I also knew that ease would be short lived if Oedipus was to be believed. I looked around for a signpost so I could find the Classics department.

When I knew where I was going, I checked that my dagger's sheath was accessible, then set off walking across the campus. As I walked, I tried to work out what would be waiting for me. I had fought too many monsters in the ten years or so since I ran away from home, so I focussed on what monsters I knew Oedipus had faced. But that was the problem, I couldn't remember if he had encountered any monsters. Sleep deprivation was dulling my senses, which isn't the best thing to know when you're heading towards an inevitable fight. But the alternative, sleeping and wasting time that could be spent finding Percy, wasn't any better. I eventually found the building I was looking for, and headed inside to find a way into the basement lair of whatever lay in store for me.

The elevator music sucked, but my foot tapped along to it all the same as I was anxious to get the fight over and done with. The doors opened and all I could see was rows upon rows of shelves full of archive boxes. I pulled out my bronze dagger and slowly searched the basement, but I could find no trace of either a monster or the necklace.

Suddenly something pounced onto my back and knocked me to the ground. I strained to try and push my attacker off but they were too heavy for me to force off me.

"I remember you, girl," the monster snarled in my ear, "I remember how you destroyed my machine in the Labyrinth and made me lose my exemplary rating. Now I will get my revenge on you!" It tore through the back of my shirt and opened up my skin, making me bleed.

As it spoke, it gave me the last clues I needed to work out what monster this way. Of course! This was the Sphinx, the monster that set the infamous riddle and the monster that tried to force me to answer a quiz to get through her lair in the Labyrinth. Her small monologue gave me time to turn my dagger in my hand and stab it into her leg, forcing her get off me. I climbed back up onto my feet, and looked at the beast in the eye. The monster hadn't got better looking since I saw it last; it had the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. My back ached from the scratches and having a sphinx sit on it.

"Hey ugly!" I called out, taking a gamble on a strategy. "Are you just going to stand there, or are we going to fight?" I got into a defensive stance, and waited for her to charge. And just like I hoped, she pounced at me. I ducked just in time and gave her a deep gash on her hind leg. Unfortunately it wasn't a fatal blow and she didn't turned into dust just yet. I had just angered her even more. She licked her wound and stared at me.

"You want the necklace, don't you?" She challenged. "Well, you can't have it. It's mine. I've hidden it well." I looked around and easily spotted it, hurriedly tucked away in a box behind her. I took a second to outline a plan of action in my head.

"Well, I need it too. So, it looks like I'm going to have to go through you to get to it." I charged at her, which she obviously wasn't expecting. Her hubris, that she thought she was superior to me, had told me as much. As she struggled to move between the shelves, I slid onto my knees under her and thrust my dagger up into her belly, silently thanking Percy and Mr Blofis for letting me play baseball with them. She roared and faded to dust, just as some professors walked in to get something. They heard her dying roar, and panicked. Whatever the Mist made them think it was, it wasn't good. They ran to the door and pressed the fire alarm. I sighed angrily, grabbed the necklace and put on my Yankees cap to escape.

I got out of the building just as firefighters ran in, but they couldn't see through the magic of my cap. I walked out of the campus and on for a few blocks, before pulling off my cap and hailing a cab back to camp.


	6. I Call Out a Goddess

I got out of the cab that had brought me away from the chaos at Columbia to camp, paid the driver and stumbled to Thalia's pine, pausing to lean against it for a second and to give Peleus a stroke. The dragon, who knew me quite well from the times I would sketch and read against the trunk of the tree, nuzzled my hand affectionately. I smiled slightly, but that quickly faded from my face when I saw who was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill. 'She wastes no time, does she?' I thought to myself sharply, as I left the shade of the tree and walked down to where the goddess of love was waiting for me.

"Did you get it?" she queried quickly, her high pitched voice that was trying to seem sickly sweet grating on my ears. My reply was to pull the necklace out of my backpack and thrust it towards her. When she saw it, her eyes widened in happiness and she clapped. "Oh, I knew you would get it. I am so proud of you, my dear!"

I just sighed and glared at her. "Before you go; King Oedipus asked me to ask you something".

The eyes of the love goddess closed slightly, almost as if she could sense what I was asking. "Be careful child. Your mother might be Athena but not all knowledge is worth knowing."

"It's only one question, what harm can it do?" I asked in mock sweetness, but her eyes only narrowed even more.

"Ask away, but whatever occurs from the question is your responsibility." Aphrodite said firmly, her eyes locked to mine.

"He wants to know why you made the nurse lie to Theseus about Hippolytus and Phaedra?" I replied in a voice just as firm as hers. "Why did you cause all that death?" Her eyes had practically turned to slits fit for an European medieval castle.

"I did not make the nurse lie, I simply took her likeness. And as for why I did it? I did it because that poor girl was 18 and Theseus was like 60. Hippolytus was a way better match for her, he was closer to her in age and wasn't a lecherous creep like his father. Plus, it would have been fun to steal one of Artemis' closest mortals, she's such a frigid cow!" Aphrodite said with implied boredom, but I could tell the question had rattled her. "And now for the consequences of your question. Now, at that moment when you face your greatest fear head on, I will make sure that it leads to problems for you and Percy. The path of true love never did run smooth, and now you've just made the road a whole lot rougher for you both. Think on me when it happens, and realise I was merciful."

She snatched the necklace from my hands and stormed off in the direction of the cabin her children live in. I sighed and headed towards my cabin to clean myself up. I just hoped that Aphrodite held up her side of the bargain, for Percy's mother's sake as well as my own. I poured some nectar on my scratches, wrapped them up in bandages and slumped back on my bed to rest. But I couldn't, not without knowing Percy was safe, so I slowly sat up, stretched and went to the Big House to see if any progress has been made with the search. Chiron told me there wasn't, especially with the increase in the number of monsters out there with the rising of Gaea. I sat down at the ping pong table and put my head in my hands. Had I ruined our chances of finding Percy by doing what Oedipus had asked of me? I began to cry until no more tears came out. I hid my face and ran back to my cabin, to the safety of my bed where no one could see how broken I was.

Somehow, the sweet emptiness of sleep enveloped me as I lay there crying, something I didn't fully realise until my brother Malcolm woke me up in the middle of the night.

"What!?" I asked angrily, my dagger at his throat. "You should know better than to wake me in the middle of the night." I snarled heatedly at him.

"Chiron told me to," my brother choked out. "It's Ms. Jackson." My dagger lowered and my heart sank at the mention of the woman who was practically my mother-in-law already. I gathered myself and ran to the Big House to find out what had happened. Chiron passed me the phone when I got there, a serious look on his face. Ms. Jackson was crying heavily on the other end of the line, and my heart sank in fear.

"Ms. Jackson? What's happened? Is it Percy?" I ask worriedly.

"He called me!" She said in disbelief, and my heart started racing in excitement. "Percy called me!"

"What!?" I exclaim in astonishment, my body shaking slightly with nervous anticipation. How much did he remember? Did he remember me? Does he still love me? Those thoughts and more raced through my head as she spoke on the other end of the phone.

"He's alive, but he's on a quest." She sobbed happily into the phone as she played me a voicemail message from Percy. "He's still with us. Bring him home to me. Please Annabeth."

"I will Ms. Jackson, I promise." Tears had formed in my eyes, and I was crying along with her. "I'll bring Percy back to you. But only after I've taught him never to worry us again." I had several ideas about how to knock some sense into that clump of kelp he called his head, most of them involving me flipping him.

She chuckled through the tears. "I'd have it no other way."

We spent the rest of the night crying together on the phone, longing for the Seaweed Brain we both loved.


End file.
